
Wand image.
A wand is a quasi-sentient magical instrument through which a witch channels her or his magical powers.
Overview[]
A wand (also: magic wand) is a thin, straight, hand-held stick or rod made of wood, stone, ivory, or metals like gold or silver. Generally, in modern language, wands are ceremonial and/or have associations with magic but there have been other uses, all stemming from the original meaning as a synonym of rod and virge, both of which had a similar development. A stick giving length and leverage is perhaps the earliest and simplest of tools. Long versions of the magic wand are usually styled in forms of staffs or scepters, often with designs or an orb of a gemstone forged on the top.
In modern pop-culture[]
The earliest magical wand or staff in Western literary canon appears in the Odyssey: that of Circe, who uses it to transform Odysseus's men into wild beasts. Italian fairy tales put them into the hands of the powerful fairies by the late Middle Ages. In the ballads such as Allison Gross and The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea, the villainesses use silver wands to transform their victims. In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the White Witch's most feared tool is her wand, whose magic is capable of turning people into stone.
Magic wands commonly feature in works of fantasy fiction as spell-casting tools. Few other common denominators exist, so the capabilities of wands vary wildly. Note that wands fill basically the same role as wizards' staffs, though staffs generally convey a more 'serious' image; a fairy godmother would often use a wand, possibly with a star or some form of decoration on the end, while Gandalf would most likely not (however, in The Hobbit, he is said to use a wand, referring to his staff, to fight the goblins of the Misty Mountains and their Wargs). Gandalf's name is Northern Mannish (one of Tolkien's invented languages, similar to North Germanic languages) for "Elf of the Wand", a reference to the staff he carries. In dramatic fiction, wands can serve as weapons in magical duels. Personal Wands are common in the fictional world of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter, as necessary tools to channel out each character's magic; it is the wand which chooses its owner. A wand is also present in the Children of the Red King series in the possession of Charlie Bone as well as the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft where caster classes such as the mage and warlock use wands offensively.
In 2010, London based organisation The Wand Company entered the BBC television show Dragon's Den with their real-life electronic magic wand. The offers they received totalled £900,000, making them the most successful contestants to ever appear on the show. Also Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, from Land of Oz novels by L. Frank Baum carries a wand or a scepter and channels her magic through it. Also in Oz the Great and Powerful, 2013 prequel to the original story, Michelle Williams, portraying younger version of Glinda, uses a wand with a gemstone tip with which she can fly, control water, and more.
Usage in the film[]
The witches uses wands in the film. The Tall Witch attacking Hansel and Muriel killing the trackers using her wand are a few examples.